Improvement in devices for climbing telegraph-poles



UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIC'E.

JACOB A. HANGER AND GEORGE C. HANGER, OF GHUROHVILLE, VIRGINIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN DEVICES FIOR CLIMBING TELEGRAPH-POLES, &c.

I Speciiication forming part of Letters Patent No. 117,413, dated July25,1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JACOB A. HANGER and GEORGE C. HANGER, ofGhurchville, in the county of Augusta and State of Virginia, haveinvented a newv and useful Improvement in Climbing-Sandals; and we dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing making apart of this specification, in which- Iiigure l is a plan view of ourinvention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, and Fig. 3 is a plan view of amodification of the device shown in Fig. l.

This invention rela-tes to sandals to be worn by those who ascend anddescend telegraph-poles or any small perpendicular object; and itconsists mainly in a device wherebya certain toothed jaw, which isplaced on the opposite side of the pole from the sandal, may be drawnagainst or away from the pole, thus clamping the sandal to or releasingit from the pole by the operator inclining his foot, with the sandal onit, more or less to the pole.

Referring to the drawing, a is a sandal, constructed of any suitablematerial. b is a plate with aplane front, secured to the front end ofthe sandal, and serving as one of the jaws by means of which the sandalis ena-bled to take hold of the pole, the front of said jaw beinginclined forward and downward to enable the sandal to be inclined to thepole. c is the other jaw, the same being serrated and placed parallelwith the jaw b, and at a distance from the latter sufficient to enablethe two jaws to be passed to opposite sides of a telegraph-pole. The jawo is connected with the sandal a by a rod, d', secured at one extremityin any suitable manner to one end of the jaw, and at that part which isby the side of the sandal bent parallel therewith, and iinally bentparallel to the jaw c so as to form an arm, e, that passes transverselythrough the sandal, and is providedion the opposite side of the latterwith some device that prevents its coming out. The jaw c is upheld andguided by two parallel rods, f h, the former of which has an eye at itsrear end that is passed over a projecting lug at the heel of the sandal,while the rod k has an arm at its rear end which passes downward throughan inclined hole near the other side of the heel of the sandal, the rodbeing by this hole and arm kept level or inclined a trifle upward. Bothrods pass through orifices in the jaw c, and are provided with nuts ioutside of the jaw, by means of which nuts the distance of the jaws cand bmay be regulated to suit the size of the pole. The. bar h isreadily removable in order to enable the two jaws to be passedV toopposite sides of a telegraph-pole, which having been done., the bar his replaced in the sandal and jaw. v

The operator, having fastened the sandal to his feet, when he wishes toraise the sandal whose jaws inclose the pole or object to be climbed,should raise his foot with toe inclined downward, in which position thejaw c is unclamped from the pole. Then, by drawing the jaw o against thepole, and throwing weight upon the sandal, it is rmly clamped to thepole. The jaw b forms a fulcrum to sandal and jaw c; or, again, byraising the foot with the toe inclined downward the jaws are unclampedfrom the pole and the sandal may be raised or lowered thereon.

The variety oi' my invention shown in Fig. 3 differs from that abovedescribed in having the jaw b at one side of the sandal instead of atthe toe, and in having the jaw c placed parallel with the side-jaw, andthe connecting-rod d passed transversely through the sandal near theheel thereof, said rod having a rack, l, formed in its upper side, thesandal being provided with a lever, m, the shorter arm of which, whenthe said lever is turned down, enters the rack Z and fastens the rod d,and when the lever m is raised erect its shorter arm is removed from therack, and the rod d thus left free to move.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination of two jaws embracing the opposite sides of the pole,for the purpose herein set forth.

2. The sandal a, provided with the jaw b, in combination with theserrated jaw c, connectingrod d, and guide-bars f IL, as specied.

3. The Vcombination of the sandal, the rigid jaw b, and the movable jawc, as specied.

' JACOB A. HANGER.

GEORGE C. HANGER.

Witnesses CHAs. P. THoMPsoN, R. F. McGLAr/LERY.

